One True Belief
by Ron Olsen
You
Me
Us
Our struggle is meaningless
For those who truly believe
In their one version of the truth
The New Testament’s revenge
A pipeline’s purpose
Fuels a climate change denier’s anger
Crying out for more and not less
Of that which hastens our demise
As they wait for evil to blanket the world
They know it’s sure to happen
It’s a certain thing
For those who truly believe
In their one version of the truth
For centuries running
They have seen the end coming
It’s just over there
Almost in sight now
With absolute certainty
That they are right
Once again
Even though they’ve been wrong before
Every time
Time and again
And then time again
They’ve even set dates
Only to be wrong
And still they believe
In myth over metaphor
Interpretation over fact
Having more impact
On government and culture
Than any of us knows
Creating the certainty
That only self-fulfilling prophecy
Can deliver to the collective mindset
As the approach of Armageddon
Makes caring meaningless
To those who truly believe
Making us
Irrelevant
Our struggle childish futility
In their eyes
Even while we hold the keys to salvation
For those who dare admit
That we might succeed
At pulling ourselves from the fire
For those with the courage to believe
That we might not be irrelevant after all
That we might be our only best hope
Even as God whispers in the ear
Of some enlightened fool
Who, after a pint of his favorite brew
Sets yet another date
For the rest of us to burn in hell
And demands that his local congressman
Must do the same
© 2015 Ron Olsen/all rights reserved
Ron Olsen is a Los Angeles based writer. More of his poetry can be found here.
